I've got a PhD position!

[Tomk80]

I haven't posted frequently here lately because I had a lot of other things on my mind. One of which was securing a PhD-position somewhere. And now that worked out! So because people here are interested in science, I thought I'd celebrate here.

I'm going to do research on the health effects of electromagnetic fields. More specifically, I'm going to research whether electromagnetic fields cause an increase in mortality, cancer or neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson. There has already been some research on this, latest a large international effort. Problem with these is that the studies first sought out people that had cancer and subsequently asked them about there mobile phone use (amongst other things). Than they analyzed whether people with cancer were more likely to use a mobile phone for longer periods of time. This is called a case-control study. Problem with those studies is that you need to ask people to remember their (mobile) phone use for a period of 10 years back or more. This makes the results hard to interpret, because if you find that people with cancer had a higher phone use, this might just mean that people who have cancer tend to overestimate their phone use and people who do not have cancer tend to underestimate it. This is called reporting bias.

I'm going to be involved in what is called a cohort study. Here, we first select a group of people, who we ask about their phone use, electric appliances etc, anything that causes electromagnetic fields. Subsequently we start following them for a period of time (8 years to start with). During that time we keep monitoring their use of mobile phones etc and monitor whether they get cancer or other diseases, or die. We can then analyse the effect of electromagnetic fields on the occurrence of diseases, without having to fear for reporting bias. The design is called a prospective cohort study, because we get a group of people and follow them in time.

Meanwhile, we are also going to make use of some already finished cohort studies. We cannot ask these people about mobile phones anymore, but what we can do is determine whether they lived near power lines or base stations for mobile phones. We will then again determine the effect of the electromagnetic fields from these sources on outcomes like diseases or death. This design is called a retrospective or historical cohort, because we again have a group of people, only now we make the connection between the exposure and the disease historically.

So in about 4 years time, I'll be able to tell you all about electromagnetic fields and their health effects.

 

[WilliamduBois]

Gefeliciteerd, Congratulations and all that, Tom!

 

[Cabal]

Hey, congrats! Sounds really interesting

(Also, Parkinson's is in my family, so do please let us know the results )

 

[Tomk80]

Hey, congrats! Sounds really interesting

(Also, Parkinson's is in my family, so do please let us know the results )

Hehe, it's also in mine. There have been some connections suggested between occupational exposure (for example for mechanics working with MRI machines) and Parkinson's, but they are as yet extremely tentative. Some studies say there is a connection, others say there isn't.

 

[juvenissun]

I haven't posted frequently here lately because I had a lot of other things on my mind. One of which was securing a PhD-position somewhere. And now that worked out! So because people here are interested in science, I thought I'd celebrate here.

That is great. I always wonder how serious would be the effect. Glad you find a job you like. I think an observable effect (if any) should be limited to the genetic level, as the time of experiment is limited. For example, may be you could find a mutation caused by the radiation.

But, what is a Ph.D. position? Is it one demands a Ph.D. degree or is it one doing a Ph.D. level research?

 

[Tomk80]

That is great. I always wonder how serious would be the effect. Glad you find a job you like. I think an observable effect (if any) should be limited to the genetic level, as the time of experiment is limited. For example, may be you could find a mutation caused by the radiation.

Well, that is not my part in the research. What I'm doing is population research, seeing whether the number of diseases goes up or down. Other scientists are working on the mechanisms. I've never been such a lab rat.

Basically I'll work on analyzing the completed cohort studies, while setting up the new ones. After I've finished my thesis another PhD-student will get a contract for four years and finish the studies I'll be setting up. I might be able to do a postdoc on the new studies and supervise that PhD-student, but that will depend on how the studies are going.

But, what is a Ph.D. position? Is it one demands a Ph.D. degree or is it one doing a Ph.D. level research?

PhD level research. I've got a position for four years doing the research and after /during that I'll write my thesis and get a PhD (in epidemiology in this case).

 

[The Barbarian]

Great news. Congratulations.

 

[TemperateSeaIsland]

You poor sod.

Congrats.

 

[Assyrian]

Congratulations. Have fun.

 

[juvenissun]

Well, that is not my part in the research. What I'm doing is population research, seeing whether the number of diseases goes up or down. Other scientists are working on the mechanisms. I've never been such a lab rat.

We are mostly biased by thinking the EM radiation may damage our health. However, we also see some people think the EM (or the M) force may cure or improve some health problems. So, it would be a more complete study if you also monitor the possible benefits for people who received more EM radiation. It won't increase too much work to your study. Just add a few checking items to the list. For example, if people have some brain problems at the beginning of the program, these problems may become less severe at the end.

 

[Tomk80]

We are mostly biased by thinking the EM radiation may damage our health. However, we also see some people think the EM (or the M) force may cure or improve some health problems. So, it would be a more complete study if you also monitor the possible benefits for people who received more EM radiation. It won't increase too much work to your study. Just add a few checking items to the list. For example, if people have some brain problems at the beginning of the program, these problems may become less severe at the end.

Other people will do that further up in the study. The points you are describing are short-term influences, while the study I'll be doing will look at long-term effects. The sample I start with excludes people with prior indications to cancer, because that could bias the results. Two years into the study another PhD student will start looking at more direct effects of electromagnetic fields.

 

[29apples]

Do you have any predictions for the mechanism for EM to produce an increased instance of cancer or why EM might cause a protumor microenvironment?

Congrats! It is going to be a long road. I recently accepted a PhD position this year. I am working on immunology and cancer. I just got off the ground and starting the research. Classes are completed so now we just have to discover something completely new!

 

[bigbadwilf]

My condolences.

(sorry, I work in a university science department and my views of academics in general and students in particular are somewhat jaded)

Congratulations. And my complements on choosing to do a cohort study rather than another meta-analysis (which seem to be becoming more and more fashionable).

 

[pgp_protector]

Have fun

Will you also be comparing BlueTooth vs non BlueTooth Phone Usage ?
Or what type of phone they're using as the different phones networks are using different power levels / frequencies

Example My Phone might be a high power transmitter, but if it's on the seat next to me & never next to my head that would limit my exposure, and the only close RF exposure I'd be getting is from the headset that uses a much lower power transmitter vs the phone transmitter, while someone that doesn't use a head set would have the "high" power transmitter of the phone closer to them, but might have shorter conversations.

Or for example they might keep their iPhone in their pocket with the 3G on & getting data packets transmitted all the time.

 

[Tomk80]

Have fun

Will you also be comparing BlueTooth vs non BlueTooth Phone Usage ?
Or what type of phone they're using as the different phones networks are using different power levels / frequencies

Example My Phone might be a high power transmitter, but if it's on the seat next to me & never next to my head that would limit my exposure, and the only close RF exposure I'd be getting is from the headset that uses a much lower power transmitter vs the phone transmitter, while someone that doesn't use a head set would have the "high" power transmitter of the phone closer to them, but might have shorter conversations.

Or for example they might keep their iPhone in their pocket with the 3G on & getting data packets transmitted all the time.

One of the things we are going to do is design a new questionnaire with which to ask about these things. Type of mobile phone, whether people use a headset or not, on which side of the head people usually use a mobile phone. There has already been a lot of work on this in the recently completed Interphone study, which was an international effort in determining the effects of mobile phones in a case-control design.

Estimating the exposure is pretty hard, given the many different sources of exposure. My supervisor has already done a lot of work on that with occupational exposure to EMF, one of the things we will do is try to expand his work on exposure assessment to the general population.

 

[Tomk80]

My condolences.

(sorry, I work in a university science department and my views of academics in general and students in particular are somewhat jaded)

I can understand what you mean. I think I have a number of friends who have completed their PhD already, or are in the process of obtaining a PhD. You need to be a little bit strange to want to do it

Congratulations. And my complements on choosing to do a cohort study rather than another meta-analysis (which seem to be becoming more and more fashionable).

Yeah. Meta-analyses are important, but to really move forward you need to do new, original research.

Well, that's not exactly true. If you've got a number of studies, a meta-analysis is good to combine the results and produce a stronger conclusion. But after you've done that, you need to do new research again.

 

[Tomk80]

Do you have any predictions for the mechanism for EM to produce an increased instance of cancer or why EM might cause a protumor microenvironment?

At this point I don't. There have been a number of experimental studies that have tried to determine a mechanism, but so far the results are still less than clear. Especially since one of the strongest experimental results (strand breaks in cells after exposure to EMF) has not been reproduced and the researcher that performed the tests is under investigation for fraud.

Congrats! It is going to be a long road. I recently accepted a PhD position this year. I am working on immunology and cancer. I just got off the ground and starting the research. Classes are completed so now we just have to discover something completely new!

Cool. IIRC you already told about this earlier on this forum. What are you going to research specifically?

 

[NailsII]

I haven't posted frequently here lately because I had a lot of other things on my mind. One of which was securing a PhD-position somewhere. And now that worked out! So because people here are interested in science, I thought I'd celebrate here.

Great work Tom, and best of luck.
Let's hope you find something interesting and open up new lines of research.

 

[Bombila]

Congratulations, Tom.

 

[TemperateSeaIsland]

I can understand what you mean. I think I have a number of friends who have completed their PhD already, or are in the process of obtaining a PhD. You need to be a little bit strange to want to do it

Hehe, the thing I consistently heard (including coming from my own mouth during my write up) was "If I was given the choice again I would have never done a Ph.D".

But dont let me get you down, most of the time it's great and finally finishing after going through the viva is the best feeling ever. It's also nice to get your name on a few publications.